Lessard and Martin find their stride at Norway beach volleyball World Tour stop

KRISTIANSAND, Norway - Marie-Andrée Lessard of Ville LaSalle, Que., and Annie Martin of Sherbrooke, Que., strung together two more wins on Thursday to remain in medal contention at the 13th stop on the beach volleyball World Tour circuit.

Lessard and Martin defeated Mathilde Giordano and Eva Hamzaoui of France 19-21, 21-18, 15-13 then Cristine Santanna and Andrezza Martins das Chagas of Georgia 33-31, 21-16 squandering six set points before winning the first set.

“It was a real adventure,” said Martin about the first set against the Georgians. “We made some good defensive blocks and finally won the set. We had to be patient.”

The Canadians need to win three matches on Friday to advance to the semifinals. They suffered their one loss on Wednesday and can’t afford a second in the double elimination tournament.

Heather Bansley and Liz Maloney of Toronto saw their tournament end as they lost to fourth seeds Vivian Cunha and Taiana Lima of Brazil 21-12, 23-21. Bansley and Maloney will place 17th overall, their best result this season on the circuit.